Luas red line works until 24th May

seekers · 22-05-2019 5:37am #1

What's happening with the essential maintenance on the luas red line and reduced frequency. I also see engineering work p n green line for Sunday

Victor · 22-05-2019 7:02am

Red Line: https://luas.ie/travel-updates/

Green Line https://luas.ie/news/

Red Line might be a power system replacement, e.g. new transformer(s).

The Green Line work could be anything, e.g. replacing a short piece of track or overhead line.

kmart6 · 22-05-2019 5:53pm

I'm finding this Red Line work curious. They didn't announce it until yesterday it seems, there is no sign of work along the Belgard-Saggart stretch and the non-service is during the main commuting hours.

I've seen people say on twitter that there's a go slow by drivers but surely there would be more out there on it if that was the case, taking it with a pinch of salt.

seekers · 22-05-2019 5:54pm

kmart6 wrote: »

I'm finding this Red Line work curious. They didn't announce it until yesterday it seems, there is no sign of work along the Belgard-Saggart stretch and the non-service is during the main commuting hours.

I've seen people say on twitter that there's a go slow by drivers but surely there would be more out there on it if that was the case, taking it with a pinch of salt.

Yes, it seems to be very short notice for essential work

kmart6 · 22-05-2019 5:58pm

And no detail as to what work is being carried out.

Work on the Green Line had clear communication around it, have seen graphics detailing the closures, times etc....

seekers · 22-05-2019 5:59pm

kmart6 wrote: »

And no detail as to what work is being carried out.

Work on the Green Line had clear communication around it, have seen graphics detailing the closures, times etc....

Yes, notices at stops included. I presume on the ramp. The red line work remains a mystery

Jamie2k9 · 22-05-2019 6:54pm

Belguard to Saggart has regular shutdowns. Pretty poor for the youngest part of red line. Wonder if contractors might be presued?

Closures on both routes at weekends will only increase in the next few years for renewal works.

Irish Steve · 22-05-2019 7:02pm

well,,,,,, The red line was total chaos and confusion at 10:20 this morning, one tram between Abbey Street and Busaras, another in Abbey street platform, and another behind that. After a few minutes, the driver of the first in the line came back and manually switched the cross over, and shortly after that, the set came into the platform, and stopped, with an out of service head board on, but then allowed passengers to board, but as to where it was going, that was anybody's guess. It then left, and a few seconds later, another set came from Busaras direction, with Tallaght as destination, and that was followed at intervals by several more sets, all going to Tallaght.

I was heading for Saggart, and in the end, I gave up waiting at Abbey street, and got on a Tallaght tram as far as Belgard. Just before Belgard. that too changed, it was supposed to be going to Tallaght, and was terminated at Belgard, and went back towards Dublin centre as an out of service set. There was total chaos at Belgard, the Transedev staff on the platform didn't have a clue what was going on, and the destination board was effectively a complete work of fiction, at least 4 more Tallaght services arrived, despite the board showing next arrival as Saggart and eventually, a Saggart service did arrive. Total journey time from Abbey Street to Saggart was an hour and 20 minutes, and from what I could see of it. the service I got to Saggart was the first train in that direction for close on 40 minutes. I checked the real time planner while we were at Heuston, as I needed to let someone know what time we would be getting to Saggart, in the end, we were some 20 minutes late arriving at Saggart on the basis of the real time information, so clearly, Transdev had completely lost track of what was happening on the network, or where the different sets were, or even which route they were operating on.

Victor · 22-05-2019 7:41pm

Irish Steve wrote: »

I was heading for Saggart, and in the end, I gave up waiting at Abbey street, and got on a Tallaght tram as far as Belgard.

Always get the first tram that comes (that you can get on), as there may be a Belgard-Saggart shuttle connecting with Tallaght-bound trams.

kmart6 · 22-05-2019 7:55pm

So just came out of town. Had to get off at Belgard as expected, amazingly enough there was a bus there. When it got to Fettercairn the Swords security girl asked what was going on with the buses, ours was the 4th to go to Saggart but none had come back going to Belgard. Got to Citywest Campus and people there had been waiting 40 minutes for one back to Belgard. That is ridiculous.

There is absolutely no visible work taking place on the line. I asked several staff at Belgard what the maintenance that's taking place is and they all said they had no idea.

A tram has now just gone the whole way to Saggart so to me it's feeding a narrative that they either don't have enough drivers at the minute or trams to run at full capacity during peak times.

L1011 · 22-05-2019 8:27pm

Trams showing as Point on the signs were terminating in Connolly with 20 minute gaps at peak between those actually serving the Point today. I'd almost consider taking the Docklands train tomorrow except it's impossible to get on at Clonsilla sometimes!

Jamie2k9 · 22-05-2019 9:07pm

kmart6 wrote: »

So just came out of town. Had to get off at Belgard as expected, amazingly enough there was a bus there. When it got to Fettercairn the Swords security girl asked what was going on with the buses, ours was the 4th to go to Saggart but none had come back going to Belgard. Got to Citywest Campus and people there had been waiting 40 minutes for one back to Belgard. That is ridiculous.

There is absolutely no visible work taking place on the line. I asked several staff at Belgard what the maintenance that's taking place is and they all said they had no idea.

A tram has now just gone the whole way to Saggart so to me it's feeding a narrative that they either don't have enough drivers at the minute or trams to run at full capacity during peak times.

Can't see it been drivers, if its non infrastructure related then it would appear like a staff or operational issue in control room rather than drivers.

Trams showing as Point on the signs were terminating in Connolly with 20 minute gaps at peak between those actually serving the Point today. I'd almost consider taking the Docklands train tomorrow except it's impossible to get on at Clonsilla sometimes!

Station real time suspended this evening.

kmart6 · 22-05-2019 9:20pm

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

Can't see it been drivers, if its non infrastructure related then it would appear like a staff or operational issue in control room rather than drivers.

Whatever it is I don't think Luas/Transdev are being fully transparent.

L1011 · 23-05-2019 8:56am

No signs this morning and a replacement bus service for the Saggart branch. Whatever is up is not a track or traction power issue if it's affecting both ends of the system

Jamie2k9 · 25-05-2019 11:42am

Thing were much better Friday, possibly signalling related problems. Many drivers had to call control to get junctions cleared. Over 30 mins Point-Heuston. Failed software update??

They were also carrying what looks like altered schedules. The extra 10-15 mins for journeys was noticeable and why they terminated at Abbey St as drivers would be out of hours. 3-4 services easily pick up an extra 40 minutes. Reduced schedule was the same when control center was damaged and when regular controllers were on strike but service was maintained but reduced.

They have secured new 6 year contract (plus 5 year option) for operating and will now take over infrastructure maintenance according to Independent.

kmart6 · 25-05-2019 1:14pm

I contacted Luas customer care and was told that the below:

Luas wrote:

It has to do with the sanding of the Luas trams which creates speed restrictions for the trams, which in turn causes a trickle on of delays that you have experienced in the past couple of days.

This of course doesn't explain why a section of the line had no service.

Luas red line works until 24th May

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